


Complete

by mayawrites95 (mayarox95)



Series: Wish Upon A Star [112]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 10:32:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6420196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayarox95/pseuds/mayawrites95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Emma argues with MM and David. Killian finds Emma sitting on the docks crying. He comforts her. Set after the S3 finale</p>
            </blockquote>





	Complete

Looking back on what had happened, everything had been blown way out of proportion. Both Emma and her parents had gotten extremely worked up over what should have been an extremely calm conversation, and tempers had been let lose.

It had started when Emma was cleaning around her parent’s apartment. She was trying to help them out with some of their house work, seeing how since Neal came along, they had been extremely busy and the place had gotten messy fast. So she had stepped in and started putting things away from the piles of laundry that had been washed but never put away, to the dishes piling up in the sink. Her parents were still asleep, seeing how they took whatever opportunity possible when Neal was asleep to catch up on the rest they were severely lacking.

She had seen something on the ground under the couch, so she had bent over to try and pick it up. She hadn’t accounted for her shirt to lift up partially in the process, nor had she accounted for her parents walking in at that moment. When she heard them come in, she had hastily stood up and tried to pull down her shirt. But her parents had already seen what was on her back and what was on her stomach. They had seen the cigarette burns and they had seen the scars from the various forms of abuse she had received while growing up.

Her mother had dropped the coffee cup she had been holding and her father had the angriest look she had ever seen on him.

“When did you get those?” Snow demanded.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Emma said, turning away from them. She tried to busy herself by cleaning up again, but her parents wouldn’t let it drop.

“Of course it matters!” David said furiously. “Someone hurt you. How come you never told us that this happened to you? I swear if I could get my hands on the person who did this, I would murder them.”

“Because it’s in the past!” Emma yelled out. “It’s in my past. I survived those days and I got out of the system. I moved forward from the pain and hurt I had felt during my time in all those homes and I used it to make me stronger.”

“You made it seem as if you were neglected, Emma!” Snow said as she walked over to where Emma was and stopped her from cleaning. “You never once said that you had been abused as a child.”

“What did you think would happen?” Emma said, as angry tears threatened to spill. “You put me off in a wardrobe so I could save an entire kingdom, but you never once thought about what that would mean for me. You never once wondered if I would be loved or cared for, and guess what? I wasn’t. I didn’t have a happy childhood and I never had anyone in my life. And just because you had noble intentions and are here now doesn’t change any of that. It doesn’t change that Neal’s life will be filled with nothing but love, and mine was filled with nothing but hate. You may have wanted to give me my best chance, but the truth was I never had it. The moment I was found on the side of the road was the moment any chance of a happy childhood flew out the window.”

Snow looked as if someone had slapped her, and David was shaking.

Emma couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t stay in the room any longer; she needed to leave. So she ran out the door and straight to the first place she thought she would be left alone. Storybrooke was a small town, but very few people ever walked by the docks.

She sat on the ledge as her feet dangled a few feet over the water. She had her arms wrapped around herself and tried to comfort herself the same ways she had when she was a kid. Emma had long since learned that the only person who would love her, who would always be there for her, was herself. She couldn’t rely on comfort or compassion from others, especially not any of the families she had lived with. So Emma had learned early on the best ways to help her when she was upset.

“Alright, Swan?” she heard a concerned voice ask. Emma quickly wiped the fast tears that were flowing down her face away.

Emma looked up at Killian with a false smile, “Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked him.

But she knew she was barely fooling him. He had informed her several times that she was something of an open book to him. He sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her comfortingly. She wanted to pull away and say she didn’t need him. She had gone so many years in her life without anyone, and she wanted to say she didn’t need him now. But when he held her carefully, she felt herself crave his warmth. She leaned into him and rested her head into his chest.

“Tell me what happened,” Killian spoke softly. He was rubbing her back tenderly, and she felt safe in his arms. It was a strange feeling for her to seek comfort in someone else, but Emma couldn’t say that she hated the feeling since it was in fact the opposite.

She told him the entire truth. How her parents had seen the scars and had wanted to know what happened. She told him how she got defensive as they tried to push into her life and how she snapped at them, leading for her to say a lot of things she regretted.

Killian looked furious at the sound of her abuse, but he didn’t say a word about it. Instead he moved on to the fight.

“So why do you think you snapped at your parents?” Killian asked her.

“It scared me. They were pushing and I couldn’t let them in and tell them what had happened. I never had a happy childhood, but I always played it down so they wouldn’t feel guilty. I understand why they did everything they did and I don’t blame them. But when they asked, I didn’t know how to tell them the truth. I’m not used to letting people in, and I’m not used to having them care about me. It still scares me to find out that I have a huge family who loves me,” Emma said shaking slightly. “I don’t know how to react when people love me and actually give a care about what happens to me.”

Killian held her tighter, “Your parents love you so much, Emma. And I know you’re trying so hard to let them in. Every day you overcome so many of the barriers you’ve faced your entire life, and I couldn’t be more proud of you. I love you so much, Emma, and you don’t have to tell your parents right away about every detail of your life. But at least let them know that you’re trying, and they’ll meet you half way.”

“I know,” Emma said softly. “Thank you, Killian. I know you’re curious about what happened in my past, but thank you for not pushing and for instead focusing on what I need now. You’re always there for me when I need you.” She pressed her lips to his cheek.

He stroked her hair, “I’m not going to lie, I do want to know about who hurt you. But you’ll tell me about that when you’re ready. I don’t need to know that now.”

“Can you be with me when I tell them?” she asked him, somewhat vulnerably. “I don’t think I can do it alone.”

“Of course, Love,” Killian told her as he kissed her forehead. He helped her up and the entire walk back, he kept reassuring her.

When they entered the apartment, Snow and David were sitting on the couch in deep discussion about what had happened between Emma and them. They looked up immediately and had a concerned look in their eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she sat on the love seat across from them. Killian immediately sat beside her to offer support. “Talking about my past has never been easy for me, but that doesn’t excuse my behaviour.”

“We shouldn’t have pushed you so hard,” David said softly. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re concerned about you and that we care and love about you.”

“I want to tell you what happened. I told you that I was unloved in those houses, but that’s an understatement. I was a meal ticket, something that was just meant to add money to their pockets; money they rarely actually spent on me. The homes where I was ignored were the good ones. They were the ones I craved. But a lot of them weren’t like that. A lot of them were filled with people who hated children. I was hit and I was kicked several times, but there are no scars for things like that. I have a lot of scars because I was a punching bag for a lot of the families. It wasn’t just me; a lot of the other children suffered the same thing as I did. It hurts to talk about, and I know it hurts for you to hear. I honestly don’t blame you guys for what you had to do. You had an entire realm to save, and I’ve gotten over the things I’ve faced.”

“You shouldn’t have had to face them in the first place,” Snow said angrily. “Emma, if we had any idea that you would have faced the things you did, we never would have given you up. And maybe that would have been better, maybe that would have been worse.”

David still looked like he wanted to punch a wall. She knew Killian was sitting tensely beside her, so she took his hand in hers. She could feel him soften beside her and he squeezed her hand tightly.

“Emma, I know how hard it was for you to open up to us. I know we haven’t exactly been parents to you when it counted, and I know that sometimes we can push too much. We love you so much, and it hurts us when we found out what happened in your life. You’re an adult, and we wish more than anything we could have raised you. But we have you back in our lives now and we promise we will support you with everything from here on out. I never want you to feel as if you have to deal with anything by yourself again.”

Emma felt a couple more tears slip down her face as she hugged her parents. She saw David give a grateful nod to Killian filled with thanks. Her father rubbed her back as her mother held her tightly. Emma had felt something she hadn’t ever felt in her entire life; like an empty void she had for her entire life had finally been filled.

She had spent a couple more hours with her parents that day but had insisted Killian stay there with them. He was family to her, and he had always made her feel better when no one else could. Her parents hadn’t minded it of course, and had even invited him to dinner that day. She had needed him in her life, just as she needed her parents, her brother, and her son. She finally felt complete.


End file.
